At Your Touch
by live-in-dreamland1
Summary: As Claire looks back on the day at Jurassic World, she finds that more often that not, she had been inadvertently touching Owen Grady. Clawen aftermath.


Look at that. It's another Clawen fic ;) This one took me a little longer to write so I hope you all like it. I feel slightly nervous posting this one but pushing through!

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 **At Your Touch**

The plush cushions on the sofa feel like heaven against Claire's aching body. A relaxed sigh leaves her lips as she slumps down, listening to her nephews chat with Owen. Karen and her husband had offered for Claire and Owen to stay in their room with them once they got back to the mainland. Normally she would refuse, knowing that they all needed some family time but Claire couldn't make herself part from the boys just yet. It appeared that Owen couldn't either, as he hadn't wanted them to leave his side. So the six of them had crowded into the room.

There were only two beds and one couch but they would make it work. Zach and Gray were quick to dive onto one of the beds as Claire sat down on the couch. She kicked off her heals and allowed herself to relish in the comfort. Karen was on the phone ordering room service and Owen was in the bathroom.

'I think I'm going to sleep for a week,' Zach comments, his voice muffled by the pillow.

'I don't feel that tired,' Gray says.

'Wait until your adrenaline wears off,' Owen says as he steps out of the bathroom. Claire looks up at him and swallows at the sight. He's discarded his shirt and vest and is left in a white singlet. His arms are on full view now sans mud and blood. Claire glances over at her sister and almost laughs at seeing the look on her face. A part of her feels proud, knowing that in some way, Owen is hers.

'They're going to be okay though?' Karen eventually asks, coming back to herself. Owen glances at Claire and she can see the argument he is having with himself. The boys sit up straighter, sensing the seriousness of the moment. Owen sighs, rubbing a hand down his face.

'They will be,' Owen starts. 'But for a while it might not be.' He directs the last part to the boys. 'This was a traumatic experience and with it comes some hard times.'

'Don't adults usually just go with yes, everything is going to be fine?' Zach asks.

'No good will come from lying about what's going to happen next. It's better that you are prepared for it rather than it all be an unwelcomed surprise.'

'So what should we expect?' Gray asks.

'Nightmares,' Owen answers. The room settles into an almost awkward silence. Claire looks at the boys and sees the traces of fear. Wanting to break the tension, Claire stands up and places herself on the bed next to Gray, wrapping her arm around his shoulder.

'If you have any trouble sleeping at all, you tell your parents or you can call me okay?'

'And me,' Owen said.

'You're sticking around?' Zach asks with hopeful eyes. Owen casts his eyes over to Claire and almost smiles at the shocked look on her face.

'If you want me to,' Owen says, making sure Claire knows that the sentence is directed at her.

'Why don't you boys wash up before the food gets here,' Karen suggested. The boys nodded before walking into the bathroom. Rubbing a hand down his face, Scott picks up the remote and turns the TV on, unable to deal with the silence in the room. The screen is set to the news and Karen gasps as she watches the images and video footage play.

'Claire,' she says. Claire can't meet her eye as she stares at the screen. When a pixelated shot of her running with a flare comes up on screen, Claire relives the terror of that moment.

'Woah!' Gray exclaims as he comes out of the bathroom. Zach follows behind him and his mouth drops open at the site. The group watch the scene unfold before it cuts back to the news anchor.

'You actually managed to lure a T-Rex out to save us…' Zach trails off.

'And avoid getting eaten,' Gray chimes in. Claire huffs out an awkward laugh and finds her eyes flitting over to Owen. Owen is already looking at her the same way he had when she had shot the Pteradon off of his back. A faint blush covers her cheeks as she remembers what occurred after.

'Are you insane?' Karen asks, her voice coming out higher than usual.

'We needed more teeth,' Claire responds with a shrug. She knows that she is making everything out to be less traumatic than it was but she can't afford to do anything else right now.

'More teeth? You…you needed more teeth? You could have been killed Claire. All of you could have been killed.'

'But we weren't,' Zach says. 'Aunt Claire saved all of us.'

'It's true,' Owen says.

'I just…' Karen trails off and Claire suddenly feels uncomfortable with the attention.

'I'm just gonna go and wash up,' she announces before stepping quickly into the bathroom. Apparently her wince and hiss of pain from standing on her feet weren't as subtle as she thought as Owen stretches a hand out to steady her.

'You okay?'

'I'm fine,' Claire responds, giving him a small smile before closing the door.

Once the door is closed, Claire leans against it and breathes out a slow breath. The mirror against the far wall catches her eye and Claire finally looks at her appearance. An amused smile crosses her face, because its better than crying, and she takes in the multiple cuts and bruises and the way her clothing is torn. A knocking on the door brings her out of her reverie.

'Claire?' Karen's voice comes through, slightly hesitant. Claire straightens up from the door and opens it up. Karen is standing on the other side with a pile of clothes in her hand. 'I figured you might want a change of clothes.'

'Thank you,' Claire says, reaching out to take the clothing. Despite their embrace earlier, there is now an awkward tension settling between the two.

'Okay then,' Karen says and reaches out to place a hand on Claire's arm. Claire nods and closes the door as Karen pulls her hand away. Once the door is closed again, Claire looks down at her arm. She can almost imagine Owen's hand resting on hers. Shaking her head of those thoughts, Claire turns on the shower. Stepping into the hot water, the blisters on her feet and the multiple scratches burn but Claire doesn't think about it. She doesn't even register the mud washing off her body. Instead, she finds herself mulling over the idea that she had spent the better part of the day in very close proximity to Owen. Looking back over the day, it registers with her that more often than not her hand had been touching some part of his body.

The first instance she recalls is when they had arrived upon the dying Apatosaurus. Owen had been trying the calm the dinosaur down and when Claire had finally been able to reach out a hand and touch it, their pinkies had touched. Looking back at it now, it feels like a very small moment but to her, she feels like it means a lot. Even though they had a rocky start to the day, Claire feels like it was the start of their progress. Shaking her head to get rid of the thoughts, Claire quickly goes through the motions of cleaning herself, knowing that everyone else would want a shower at some point.

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Claire exits the bathroom just as Scott puts the pizzas on the bed. Owen looks up at her and raises and eyebrow at the wardrobe choice.

'I didn't' think you were the kind of woman to ever wear sweatpants,' he teases. Claire looks down at her sweatpants and tank top ensemble and merely shrugs.

'I wear them when I want to be comfortable,' she defends herself.

'And I wore board shorts to a dinner date because they were comfortable to wear in the heat,' Owen shoots back. Claire narrows her eyes at him as Zach speaks.

'You wore board shorts to dinner date?' he laughs. Owen nods.

'Your aunt wasn't very happy with me. That was our first and last date.'

'But aren't you dating now?' Gray asks, looking between the two. Claire's eyes widen as she struggles to find words to say. Owen see's her struggle and steps in to help.

'Ah no, we're not dating.'

'You kissed her though.' At this Karen looks up at her sister and realises that there is a lot that happened today that hasn't been thoroughly processed yet.

'Who's hungry?'

Claire shoots her sister a grateful look and glances over at Owen before quickly averting her eyes. She slowly makes her way over to the bed and tries not to smile at the fact that the only space left is between Owen and Gray. As they eat, Zach and Gray recount their morning before getting attacked by the Indominus and Claire is happy to know that Gray had been having a good time.

After they finish eating, Owen stands up, wanting to call Barry. He brushes his hand across Claire's shoulders as he walks past and Claire instantly comes back to her thoughts about the day. After their small, almost non existent moment with the dying Apatosaurus, and other small moments where Owen had helped her over some fallen trees, the next moment Claire can immediately recall is when they had found the garage in the old visitors centre. The footsteps of the Indominus had echoed in the silence around them and Claire had been quick to step behind Owen and place her hands on his hips. In the moment it had been purely out of fear but now looking at it, Claire can see the intimacy to the position. She remembered Owen stretching an arm backwards out to her and the way they had huddled close together in front of the engine. They had been pressed up against each other and Claire can recall holding on tightly to his hand as the Indominus had bumped the jeep. And soon after that, Claire can remember vividly the heat from Owen's hand on her back as he had pushed her down to the ground to avoid a swooping Pteradon.

'Claire?' Gray asked, pulling Claire out of her musing. She hoped her face didn't look as hot as it felt as she turned her attention to her nephew.

'Yeah sweetie?'

'What are you going to do now?'

Claire pauses at the question, not having thought about what her next step was going to be. There was going to be plenty of PR clean up to do and letters to be sent out.

'Ah, I don't really know,'

'We don't need to think about that right now,' Karen said. Claire looked over at her and noticed the look on her sister's face. It was a mixture of worry, concern and apprehension.

'We'll just take it one day at a time,' Claire said, even though the words felt heavy on her tongue. She didn't know how to take it day by day. She knew what was coming up in her life and what to expect.

The boys accepted this answer and went about getting ready for bed. Scott excused himself to get a drink and Karen started prepping the couch.

'Owen won't mind sleeping on the floor, will he?'

'I'm sure it will be fine,' Claire said with a small smile. As everyone readied for bed, Owen stepped back into the room.

'Owen!,' Gray said, jumping up to hug him. Owen wasn't able to hide his surprise fast enough from Claire or Karen. 'You're not going to leave are you?'

'Owen is camping on the floor,' Karen was quick answer before Owen could. Owen raised an eyebrow at her and Karen shot him a pleading look.

'No, I'm not leaving.'

Eventually, the tiredness set in and everyone turned to their beds. Claire stretched out on the couch and immediately curled herself into a ball. The moonlight was streaming in through the open window and Claire could just make out the silhouette of Owen standing there. Careful so as not to wake the others, Claire stood up from the couch and walked over to him. Her hand reached out and touched his arm.

'Are you okay?' she asked, however she didn't hear whatever answer he gave as her eyes landed on her hand. Her fingers were curled gently around his bicep and Claire remembered a few times when she had held onto him like that. The first was when she had been sitting behind him on the ATV as they raced towards Main Street. The rational part of her brain told her that she had been holding on to him for safety reasons and because there was nowhere else to hold on to as he drove. Her heart however, told her that she had been holding onto him like that because she wanted to feel close to him.

'Claire?' Owen urged, sensing

'Sorry,' Claire said as she jumped a little. 'I'm good.'

It was obvious that Owen didn't really believe her but he didn't comment on it. He only raised his arm and gently draped it over her shoulders, drawing her closer to him. Claire put up no hesitation to the gesture, instead falling willingly into his embrace. She breathed in his scent, smiling at the slightest tightening of his arms around her. The moment though, despite the safety it was providing, served to remind Claire that there had been a very high possibility that she could have lost Owen. When the raptor had crashed through the door into the lab, there had been a fifty fifty chance that it could have gone for them instead of Hoskins. Owen had been quick to push them all backwards out of the way and Claire can't remember when her hand had moved to up to take hold of him. All she can remember was the stark fear that had settled into her bones. Fear that she may never live to see her nephews or Owen again. Realistically, Owen was the only one who could have attempted to stop an attack, which he did once they gotten outside. But in that moment, Claire wasn't able to fathom the idea of surviving and all she had wanted was to stand with Owen.

'You look very deep in thought there,' Owen murmured. Claire tilted her head back to look at him.

'A lot has happened,' she said, not overly keen to delve into what had made her think so much.

'You should get some rest.'

'I will.'

Owen didn't settle for that answer. Instead he bent down slightly to slide his arm under Claire's legs and lifted her up with ease. Claire gasped out in surprise.

'You need to rest now,' Owen said as he placed her down on the couch. Feeling her body sink into the cushions, Claire decided she was too tired to argue otherwise. Owen sat himself down in front of her and brushed some of her hair out of her eyes. He was staring at her intently and Claire was grateful that the darkness hid her blush. The last time he had looked at her like that was right before he had kissed her…

'Stop looking at me like that,' Claire heard herself saying.

'Why?'

'Because last time you did, you kissed me,' she replied, feeling some satisfaction at the surprised look on Owen's face.

'Is that so?'

Claire nodded her head as the scene replayed. She could vividly remember Owen tugging her to him as he had kissed her. She could remember being pressed against him as she had rested a hand just above his heart. She could remember the feel of his lips and the way he had taken over every sense in her body.

So deep in her thoughts, she barely noticed Owen inching forward until his lips were a breath away. It became clear very quickly that he was waiting for her to make the final move. There was no second-guessing, no regrets as Claire tilted her head up so that their lips could finally touch. It was the barest of pressure but it was more than enough. Her eyes fluttered closed and a sigh escaped her lips as Owen pulled away. She didn't open her eyes as Owen pressed a kiss to her forehead, but she couldn't hide the smile.

'Sweet dreams,' Owen said and Claire knew that he meant it. He wished for her to have pleasant dreams instead of the nightmares that would surely plague her. She heard shuffling and knew that Owen was making himself comfortable on the floor in front of her. His hand reached up to take a hold of her own and Claire was quick to lace their fingers together. Both instantly fell asleep, Claire burrowing into her pillow and smiling at the now familiar touch of Owen Grady.

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And that is that. As always, reviews are appreciated and very welcomed :)


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